A split four-stroke cycle internal combustion engine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,225. It includes at least one power piston and a corresponding first or power cylinder, and at least one compression piston and a corresponding second or compression cylinder. The power piston reciprocates through a power stroke and an exhaust stroke of a four-stroke cycle, while the compression piston reciprocates through an intake stroke and a compression stroke. A pressure chamber or cross-over passage interconnects the compression and power cylinders, with an inlet check valve providing substantially one-way gas flow from the compression cylinder to the cross-over passage, and an outlet or cross-over valve providing gas flow communication between the cross-over passage and the power cylinder. The engine further includes an intake and an exhaust valve on the compression and power cylinders, respectively. The split-cycle engine according to the referenced patent and other related developments potentially offers many advantages in fuel efficiency, especially when integrated with an additional air storage tank interconnected with the cross-over passage, which makes it possible to operate the engine as an air hybrid engine. Relative to an electrical hybrid engine, an air hybrid engine can potentially offer as much, if not more, fuel economy benefits at much lower manufacturing and waste disposal costs.
To achieve the potential benefits, the air or air-fuel mixture in the cross-over passage has to be maintained at a predetermined firing condition pressure, e.g. approximately 270 psi or 18.6 bar gage-pressure, for the entire four stroke cycle. The pressure may go much higher to achieve better combustion efficiency. Also, the opening window of the cross-over valve has to be extremely narrow, especially at medium and high engine speeds. The cross-over valve opens when the power piston is at or near the top dead center (TDC) and closes shortly after that. The total opening window in a split cycle engine may be as short as one to two milliseconds, compared with a minimum period of six to eight milliseconds in a conventional engine. To seal against a persistently high pressure in the cross-over passage, a practical cross-over valve is most likely a poppet or disk valve with an outward (i.e. away from the power cylinder, instead of into it) opening motion. When closed, the valve disk or head is pressured against the valve seat under the cross-over passage pressure. To open the valve, an actuator has to provide an extremely large initial opening force to overcome the pressure force on the head as well as the inertia. The pressure force drops dramatically once the cross-over valve is open because of a substantial pressure-equalization between the cross-over passage and the power cylinder. Once the combustion is initiated, the valve should be closed as soon as desired to prevent the spread of the combustion into the cross-over passage, which also entails, during a certain period of combustion, a need to keep the valve seated against a power cylinder pressure that is higher than the cross-over passage pressure. In addition, the cross-over valve needs to be deactivated when the power stroke is not active in certain phases of the air hybrid operation. Like conventional engine valves, the seating velocity of the cross-over valve has to be kept under a certain limit to reduce noise and maintain adequate durability.
In summary, a cross-over valve actuator has to offer a large initial opening force, a substantial seating force, a reasonably low seating velocity, a high actuation speed, and timing flexibility while consuming minimum energy by itself. Most, if not all, conventional engine valve actuation systems are not able to meet these demands.